from P.J. Stock of Blogs and Columns at CBC,

...The game has changed. The players have changed and so has the perception from the fans watching the game. I think it’s a direct reflection of our changing society. We live in a world of always worrying to be so PC (politically correct, folks). The game has changed because our society’s influence on it has almost forced some of its changes. No more so than in interpretation of the game’s physicality.

What used to be a battle along the boards, a fight for the puck, a mano-a-mano confrontation is now called like a basketball game. Two minutes for illegal use of the hands or two minutes for being too strong or too tough. I believe the game needed changes to get out of the trap era, but why interfere with what so many people have fallen in love with? The toughness of players playing the toughest game out there….

Fighting is a no-no now, hitting someone who is watching their pass is a crime and body checking someone in the head … purgatory.

I loved the game the way it used to be. I’m worried about the direction the game is going in.